‘“I’m the kind of person who wants to be on the ice working on my game a lot,” Miller said. “I feel like in the situation where I’m trying to rest, there’s times that I don’t get to practice. I feel like there’s habits that creep in, and there’s times that I need to snap myself out of things. I feel like even in the last day and a half I’ve noticed things about my game that could have helped in the last few weeks."’

‘“It was great to get that goal,” Sabres goalie Ryan Miller said. “It was about the time I was getting a little antsy, like, ‘O.K., we better do something.’ It’s a good feeling and it keeps us alive.”’

‘"We have to go out every night and battle hard for wins, and that’s exactly what we did tonight," said Roy. "We know we’re in a fight for a playoff spot and a win here tonight is a step in that direction."’

‘Mike Weber: This guy is our best defenseman on the ice. I don’t care if he’s 19 or 39, he’s the best we have. He plays a simple game and makes simple plays, something the team has lacked for the majority of the season.’

‘The loss showcased one of the Sabres’ most glaring weaknesses over the past two seasons – their inability to grind out a low-scoring victory. Buffalo has only five wins this season in which they’ve scored one or two goals.’

‘“It’s a tough game to digest, that’s for sure,” captain Jason Pominville admitted Wednesday. “But we’ve got to see our mistakes and be better the next game. We can’t be thinking about this [tonight]. We’ve got to refocus and regroup. We’re all in this together. . . . We’re still in it and we still believe.”’

‘He also signed an Amateur Tryout Contract with the Rochester Americans, the Sabres’s American Hockey League affiliate. At the end of the 2007-08 AHL season, Kostka’s contract with Buffalo will kick in.’